Roots of Learning » resources for educators

US History Lessons in the Age of New Media

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:45:57 +0000

Engaging the student, utilizing knowledge of various senses, taking advantage of free online tools, my son’s fourth grade social studies teacher did all these things when she showed the kids the following in class today:

Word Processing and Formatting for Youngsters?

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:00:56 +0000

I was talking with a parent of a fifth grader who is attending our local “gifted zone center” program. Her daughter was assigned a paper that needed to be two pages, double spaced. Her daughter does not type well, so this assignment was taking a while. At one juncture, the parent noticed that her daughter was not double-spacing the paper. “Oh yes, I am,” responded the student. “I am putting two spaces between each word.” Clearly, this student had not learned about basic formatting in a word processing program.

So this got me thinking – there are plenty of great typing programs out there for students, such as the BBC’s Dance Mat Typing, but are there resources (books, software programs, etc.?) that help teach word processing conventions and formatting ‘rules?’ If you know of any, I’d love to hear from you! If I come across any, I may do some field-testing and review them for you here.

- Heather

Resource for Educators (including Home Educators!)

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:03:09 +0000

Better Lesson is a social networking site for teachers and other educators – including home educators – to share curriculum material. In fact, an educator can upload and share a full 180 days worth of lessons. Check it out, and avoid re-inventing the wheel! This site looks great and seems to have great potential. DISCLAIMER: I have not yet used it, however. I plan to give it a try, and I’ll use this space to report back on my impressions.

- Heather

Great Listing of Great Books!

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:04:04 +0000

This list from an article in the July 2009 ASCD Educational Leadership magazine includes books by age level that are good for teaching social responsibility. If anyone has used any of these or done any specific activities with their kids to encourage social responsibility, I’d love to hear about it!

- Heather

I Can’t Wait to Check out These Resources

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:32:48 +0000

PBS has done it again! A new site, called PBS Teachers, has activities, resources, webinars, discussions, etc. etc. etc. for teachers (and parents who teach!) of kids from pre-K to grade 12! Check it out and enjoy!

- Heather

Lesson Plan from ReadWriteThink: Email Writing Conventions vs. Traditional Letter Writing

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:28:54 +0000

“In this lesson, students explore the differences between e-mail and letter writing by contrasting and identifying different forms, and experimenting with their own e-mail and letter compositions.” Check it out at ReadWriteThink*.

* ReadWriteThink is a website from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. It’s purpose is to provide educators and students with access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts education.

Enjoy!

- Heather

Great Drafting Tips for Students

admin — Sat, 09 May 2009 03:06:58 +0000

1. Drafting all about IDEAS – it is a beginning, not an end!

2. Remember, the writing process is cyclical – you can always go back to the brainstorming phase if you need to!

3. While writing a draft, leave wide margins, whether you are writing by hand or typing!

4. It is alright to use a ‘delete’ key – or an eraser!

Read the rest and download a .pdf for your kids to use at http://tinyurl.com/q89jmc.

Exploring Word Origins

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:01:56 +0000

When I took Latin in high school, I just loved it (ok, I’m a Latin geek) because it was like a wonderful puzzle that allowed me to chip away at the English language. With each new piece of vocabulary, I was gaining a key to the kingdom, so to speak, for my own language. Each Latin root word provided me with exponentially more English vocabulary. In a nutshell, that experience served me well. As a teacher, I have tried to pass it along to my students and to my own kids.

I created this graphic organizer for folks to use with their kids. I’ll be using it with my 9 year old this summer (or sooner). It will be available as part of my free summer e-course, coming soon!

- Heather

PS – I just edited this blog entry to include a link to the .pdf version of the Word Genealogy Tree graphic organizer – hope it helps!

Experiential Learning Resources from UC Davis

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:52:21 +0000

“Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I understand.” – Chinese Proverb

Constructivist learning, experiential learning, whatever you want to call good teaching where the student is intimately involved as meaning-maker is desirable for the development of true understanding. UC Davis has some wonderful resources for teachers, home schoolers, or anyone involved in children’s learning.

Check out these three training modules from UC Davis.

Museums as Educational Partners

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:51:45 +0000

Whether you send your child to public school, private school, or whether you home school, your community no doubt has some treasures – museums, historical societies, science centers, or parks. Here in Virginia, the communities are rich with such treasures, but very few take advantage of these opportunities to learn.

When I conduct presentations for museum educators (link takes you to the most recent), they are usually centered around how they can engage the school audience and meet the needs of teachers and schools. I also make it a point to emphasize the importance of engaging alternative audiences such as independent schools, home schoolers, and scouting groups and clubs. If you are involved in such groups, you know that they have more flexibility and autonomy to engage in the community than do public schools.

My question to parents is, how do you view museums and other community ‘assets’? Do they meet your needs or do they leave something to be desired? Do you see them as a vehicle for learning for your children? Have you seen great partnerships between schools or homeschool groups and museums and cultural centers?

I’d love to read your input!

- Heather